Thursday, April 18, 2013

Red-shouldered Hawks on nest along the Little Miami River...

I took the afternoon off work today and headed to the Little Miami River. It's been so long since I've spent an afternoon looking for birds, and I loved it. The spring migrants are moving in, and I could hear their new birdsong filling the river corridor. I saw lots and lots of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and heard and saw my first Northern Parula and Indigo Bunting of the season, but seeing a male and female Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) on their nest was the highlight....

A male Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) on a nest. He flew in to relieve the larger female (hidden from view).

This nest is located on the Little Miami River and bike trail about a half mile from the abandoned Peter's Cartridge factory. I saw it last year, but construction was only half-hearted and the hawks never occupied it, but earlier this year, when snow was still on the trail, I noticed the nest was slowly being beefed up, and today I saw why...mama and papa have settled in!

...eventually the larger female Red-shouldered Hawk starts to pop up. It's time for her to fly out.

...there she is. You can see how much larger she is.

...stretching her wings.

...right after this shot, she flew out of the nest to an adjacent tree. Then she took off. I can't wait to see the babies after the eggs hatch. Let's hope the couple is successful.

Just stopping by to say hello- Jerry has your blog posted to look at today - my son lives in Cincinnati too - we have been there many times - never thought about it being a place to look for birds! They are pretty.

Thanks, everyone! I can't wait to get back and check out their progress. Their nest is in a tree on a busy bike trail along the Little Miami River, so these two are used to and okay with a little traffic...true suburban birds I guess.

Banjo....yes, Red-tail females are larger than males also. Yep...the male sat on the eggs while the female flew off to hunt. Mainly just the female incubates the eggs, but while I was there, the male flew in and they exchanged places for a while.

My Camera and Lenses

I hand hold the camera for all my photos (I used to use a monopod or tripod for distance and macro, but the VR lenses don't seem to require it). I crop the images down in Aperture (I'm a Mac).

The Story Behind "Red and the Peanut"

Red and the Peanut is named after my first bird memory. When I was about six, I was at my Great Aunt Mary's house and she was telling me about Red and the peanut. "Red" was a Northern Cardinal that had trained Aunt Mary to feed it peanuts on demand. Since Aunt Mary's "Red" started it all, what better name could I choose?